Roasted Veggie Pasta Bake

Prep Time:40 mins, Cook Time: 20 mins, Total Time: 1 hour

May 13, 2014

It’s National Vegetarian Week next week, 19 – 25 May 2014, and whilst we’re not entirely vegetarian at Eat Your Veg HQ we naturally love our veggies and eat as such for most of the week. I do buy a little well sourced meat or fish here and there, but some weeks we don’t even eat that and as the years go by I’m conscience it’s becoming less and less. There’s no denying all the recent fake food and horse meat scares have made me think twice, and for the first time since becoming a meat eater twenty years ago I’m seriously considering going back to being a vegetarian, or more likely a pescatarian who eats fish too.

To celebrate next week’s National Vegetarian Week I give you my Roasted Veggie Pasta Bake. Although it takes about an hour to make, it’s very quick and simple to prep and the timely part comes from the oven time, not your time. Simply a matter of roughly chopping lots of veggies and roasting them with a little healthy rapeseed oil and plenty of fresh thyme. Once tender they’re mixed around with a tin of cherry tomatoes (a recent discovery of mine!) or fresh if you cannot source, cooked wholewheat pasta, half fat creme fraiche, a little parmesan and a few olives. Slices of Mozzarella and a little more Parmesan on the top and popped back in the oven for it to do it’s magic.

And really that is all. One very tasty midweek or weekend prepped-in-mins tea. And with plenty of healthy credentials too with all those veggies and wholewheat pasta. You don’t have to use wholewheat pasta but I’m a recent all out convert, and my kids don’t seem to notice the difference. If you haven’t tried it recently then you really should, you might be pleasantly surprised. And do vary your veggies as to what you have in or is season. Mushrooms I’m sure would be fabulous, but despite my persistent attempts I can’t get the monsters to like them. Though I know they will one day.

I’m entering my recipe to the Betta LivingVegetarian Recipe Competition, a comp to find the tastiest veggie recipes out there in the blogosphere. There’s a very generous prize plus the chance to be featured on the Betta LIving website.

1) Pre-heat your oven to 200ºc/180ºc fan/Gas Mark 6.
2) Chop all the veggies into largish bitesize chunks and place on a large roasting tray with the thyme, oil and a pinch each of black pepper and salt. Get your hands in and ensure everything’s evenly coated. Place the veggies in the hot oven for 30 minutes turning about half the way through. They should be fully tender.
3) Meanwhile cook the pasta to packet instructions, drain and set aside.
4) When the veggies are cooked take out of the oven, but leave the oven on. Squish the garlic flesh from the skin and roughly mash with a fork in the roasting tray. Pour over the tin of cherry tomatoes, creme fraiche, olives, half the Parmesan and a little more black pepper if you wish, followed by the cooked pasta. Give everything a good stir around.
5) Place the pasta and veggies in an oven-proof serving dish. Slice the Mozzarella and place evenly over the top, scatter on the remaining Parmesan.
6) Place back in the oven for a further 20 minutes until golden and bubbling.

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